The issue of permitting easy access to network printers for wireless device users, while maintaining internal network security, is a difficult one to solve. Additionally, many network administrators may not even be aware that the technology exists for creating a public print environment within a secure network.
Currently, a network administrator would have to perform the following steps to set up a public network printing environment for users of wireless devices: (1) setup a wireless access point for public access; (2) setup a firewall between the access point and the secure network, in order to limit the access of the wireless device users to just the printers and/or print servers; and (3) setup a print server on the public network to serve up the appropriate software/drivers for the available printers.
Currently, the wireless device users would have to perform the following steps to print: (1) determine how the wireless user can connect to the wireless network (this step usually involves obtaining the appropriate encryption key and network identification (ID), as well as giving the wireless device user access to more devices in addition to just the printers); (2) switch their current wireless devices to use the wireless network; (3) browse the wireless network to find the available printers, by using the wireless device's current add printer technology; (4) add the available printer; and (5) perform printing by use of the added printer.
It is difficult to create a public network printing environment for the wireless device users, in a secure network. Additionally, there is the complex process of setting up a device for printing in a new network. Furthermore, there are major security issues when allowing the wireless device users to print in a secure environment. It is important that the wireless device users are not able to access particular devices in which the users have no authorization to access.
Therefore, the current technology is limited in its capabilities and suffers from at least the above constraints or deficiencies.